There have been calls for the Mr Akin to resign over the remarks, with his party’s presidential nominee Mitt Romney condemning them as ‘insulting, inexcusable and frankly wrong.’

Mr Akin was asked being asked about his opposition to abortion in cases of rape, when he told Louis channel KTVI-TV: ‘It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare.

‘If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.’

Voters have been demanding the under-fire Senate candidate for Missouri quit, while president Barack Obama also appeared to call for Mr Akin’s resignation.

‘The idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn’t make sense to the American people and certainly doesn’t make sense to me,’ he said.

‘So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making healthcare decisions on behalf of women.’